brian

jake

What’s the problem?

Basically I am currently having an internal battle between two celluar companies. I’ve been with Verizon for four years. I got my first personal cell phone the summer after I graduated college. Two years ago I grabbed myself an LG VX6000 at a very good price because I renewed my two year aggreement. Now my agreement is up, and I’ve come up with a few new options.

This post has been mulling for a while. I already wrote it once, it was schizophrenic. But today I saw something that reminded me I better get this down in writing before it all comes to pass and I’m sitting here with a new phone typing this in retrospect.

Sony Ericsson and Cingular

Most ludicrous of the choices is a pretty Sony Ericsson k750i and I could even purchase it from a shop I trust. Of course the darn thing costs $ 400+ and is “European.” Which is translated as out of the four possible GSM bands, it has three, missing one US band.

So while the phone is my current winner, I worry I’ll be dropping calls left and right. There is some hope but I’m getting negative feedback from my surroundings because of the high price tag. Even though it would be unlocked and I could carrier jump with it. Well jump from Cingular to T-Mobile.

And if I ever moved to Europe I’d be all set just by getting a new sim card.

Comments (3)

Cingular didn't work out...

Over the holidays, our household switched from Verizon to Cingular so we could upgrade to the razr phones. It was a disaster – we had dropped calls all the time. Following up with Cingular to try to find a resolution was time-consuming at best. Thankfully, there’s a 30-day guarantee, and Verizon welcomed us back with open arms. We still want new phones, but we want something as cool as the razr yet available through Verizon…

Which way to go

Jake, there really only exists just a few questions you must answer:

1. Do you really plan on going to Europe anytime soon?
2. Are you really going to take advantage of any of the bluetooth options, be it your car, hands-free, or laptop integration (as with the powerbooks -bluephoneElite)?
3. Will the European phone(s) be that bad in your area? You might not be in a totally rural area, and if not you shouldn’t have any issues with these European phones.

If it were me, I’d go all out. Sure, $400 sounds like a lot of money, but your cellphone is a key instrument in communcation i’m sure.

Thanks Jason

I think I’ve made some progress in my decision. And then you had to appeal to my ‘get the best’ attitude. I really don’t think I’ll be in Europe anytime soon. At least not till after the 1 year contract I’m leaning toward runs out.

As for the Bluetooth capabilities I’d have to say I really do plan on using them if I can. My Powerbook I’ve had for a year and a half came with Bluetooth and I have not used it for anything. I’d love to be able to take advantage of that feature.

But outside of the fancy features I think I have to let my wallet dictate my actions. I have too many things to purchase in the near future, and I’m not interested in using my credit card on a $400 dollar phone.

But I am only going to go with a 1 year contract, so I’ll get to go through this stress again next year and hopefully have a little extra cash lying around break my chains to Verizon.